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I'm having a lot of problems with my home internet connection right now, so the blogging and other things I want to do will have to wait until the problems are resolved. I have tried everything I can do to try and fix the problem (like checking the connection and resetting the cable modem), but it will not clear up. The connection is really, really slow and unstable. And the problem is getting worse and worse. So I will have to have the cable people look at it.
It's the new one by Weezer...video via Beth:
Sorry for the long silence...I've been busy. I need to do a bit of an update to the Scientology post, then some less serious stuff. Until then, enjoy!
A while back, I posted about a YouTube video making fun of an album of crappy Scientology "music". I have read some of the anti-Scientology sites off and on for a few years. However, for the past couple of months or so, I have been paying more attention to some of the information coming out about this cult. A lot of people laugh off Scientology as just some goofy cult for Hollywood people. However, there are some far more serious aspects to this cult. People have died, gone insane and/or committed suicide because of Scientology.
Scientology promises people that they will be able to use their "technology" to get rid of "body thetans" (for details on that, check out the whole Xenu story) and become superhuman beings who never get sick and are never unhappy. However, to go through the various courses and auditing to reach these levels of enlightenment, it costs at least $300,000.
Many ordinary people who get involved with the cult don't have that kind of money. So, many join up with Scientology's Sea Organization or "Sea Org". The Sea Org is a pseudo-military outfit whose members are basically the worker bees in the Scientology organization. They are paid little and have very few days off. They sign a one billion year contract where they promise to come back to the Sea Org in future lives to serve. They are also assured that they are doing something to "save the planet" from psychiatry and false belief systems (of which they consider Christianity one). They are completely and utterly dedicated to serving Scientology.
Sea Org members are allowed to get married, and many do just so they can have more privacy, as married couples get their own quarters and don't have to share with a bunch of other people. However, if a woman in the Sea Org gets pregnant, she is given two options: abort the baby or leave. Now, keep in mind that this is a cult that this woman's whole existence is dependent on. These people are kept cut off and isolated from the rest of the "wog" world. ("Wog" being the term used by Scientology to refer to the people and world outside Scientology.) Given that, what choice do you think the woman usually makes? It is a sad fact that most of these women feel they have no choice but to abort. The cult pressures them to abort and makes sure they are cut off from their non-cult family members (if they have any) so that they have nowhere else to go. Since the Sea Org doesn't really offer these people health care of any sort (if they get sick, they are sent to free clinics), the Sea Org women usually end up at a Planned Parenthood to get their abortions.
Dawn Olsen at the blog GlossLip tells the story of one young woman named Astra Woodcraft who left the cult and chose life for her child. Her father, Lawrence Woodcraft, had previously left the cult, so she had a support system to fall back on.
One thing that I, being pro-life, disagree with in Dawn's post is her beliefs about why the "religious right" have not addressed the issue of Scientology forcing women to have abortions. I think religious conservatives and the pro-life movement haven't said much about this simply because they don't know that this is going on. I didn't know about this until quite recently, myself. I bet that most people, while they have heard of Scientology, have never even heard of the Sea Org.
This post is my way of speaking out against this horrible practice (one of very many) by a dangerous cult. I encourage pro-lifers and Christians to get informed about the abuses of Scientology. Despite their propaganda that claims that you can be both a Christian and a Scientologist, that simply isn't true. L. Ron Hubbard was contemptuous of Christianity and had previously been involved in Satanic practices. In fact, the "crossed out Cross" that Scientology uses has also been used by the Church of Satan.
Here are a list of links to help you get informed:
Let me add one more important thing. This is an area that crisis pregnancy centers in places where there are a lot of Sea Org members (like the Los Angeles area and Clearwater, Florida) should concentrate on. I would encourage them to make a special attempt to reach out to these women. They are frightened, brainwashed and have no one to turn to.
Update: I have added some links about Scientology's disconnection policy, which is used to isolate cult members from non-cult family and friends. Also, I neglected to recommend that you watch the video accompanying the GlossLip post. It was apparently done several years ago, and Astra talks about life in the Sea Org and her decision to have her baby and leave the Sea Org. I have not had a chance to watch the whole thing yet, since it's over 48 minutes long. I've watched about 30 minutes of it and will watch the rest tonight. The interview really brings home the agony and torment that this cult puts its rank-and-file members through.
I have added some fresh music to the my Live 365 station, with more coming soon. I have added four songs by the wonderful band Stinging Rain: "Music of My World", "The Dream", "The Universe" and "Mighty Tree". You can buy their music at CD Baby or on iTunes. By the way, the bass player for Stinging Rain is none other than blogger Pauli at Est Quod Est. Pretty cool! :-)
Also added: Matt Mahaffey's band Self's fantastic cover of They Might Be Giants' "Ana Ng"; a cool, trance like song by Maps called "It Will Find You"; and a nice, somewhat obscure oldie by the Remains called "Why Do I Cry", which I originally heard on the Little Steven's Underground Garage channel on Sirius. That channel, First Wave and Chill are my favorite channels on Sirius.
I added the same songs to my Radio Blog widget on the sidebar. I upgraded to the new version, so I don't have everything working the way I would like. However, you can play the songs...it's just going to go to a new page instead of opening up a window and the colors haven't been customized. Also, you have to click a song to start playing it.
I hope to add some more music to both the Live 365 station and the Radio Blog in the near future. Enjoy!
Update (5/6/08): I meant to link Pauli's post about Stinging Rain. Now that oversight has been corrected.
Just a little update on how I'm doing. I'm pretty much over my bad cold, although I still have the cough hanging on. This is always how it is with me...the cough lasts two or three weeks after the cold is gone. However, I have been so tired lately. I've been going to bed earlier than usual most evenings, but still getting up at the same time as usual. And I do this even if I've taken a nap in the afternoon. I guess I'm catching up on all the sleep I missed when I was sick.
A co-worker of mine passed away about a week and a half ago. He had prostate cancer which spread and he worked right up until about four months ago. The cancer had spread to his brain, which disrupted his speech. He could think just fine, but he had a hard time getting the words out. He was in his late sixties, but he kept working as long as he could because he loved to work. He was a very sweet man who I thought of as sort of a father figure. He also was a very devout and deeply committed Christian, so I have no doubt that he is with the Lord. I went to his visitation last week and it was very crowded with lots of people from work, his church and of course his family. He was well loved by all.
I hope to be blogging more soon and I have some fun stuff coming up. I'm toying with the idea of making this more of a "fun" blog, with faith stuff mixed in and creating a spin-off blog for all the controversial stuff: politics, social issues, things having to do with defense and terrorism, etc. I may make it a group blog and invite others to post if they want to. I may even make it forum or something. It's just an idea I'm kicking around. Please tell me what you think if you are so inclined.